Plants or Robots

Robots are made of multiple parts, and when one is broken, there’s a clear solution: replace a broken part, replace the power source, or change the wiring. Maybe it just needs to be reprogrammed. Either way, fixes are quick.

Plants are complex as well, but when they’re broken, you can’t just replace a broken part. Stapling a leaf to a plant won’t help it. Is it wilting? Linking it to a strong support isn’t enough. Is it dying? Water it, give it sunlight and you’re still missing something. What’s missing? Time. With plants, the “fix” isn’t instantaneous. Plants require time to heal.

People don’t heal with just the right mindset or just the right bible verse. One conversation, two, even fifty might not be enough.

Plants are shaped by and aren’t easily disentangled from their surroundings. Sometimes we need to realize the fix is impossible for us and at best we can nurture and care and just wait.

In order to love one another, we must stop treating one another as robots and more like living creatures.

In order to love our enemies, to love those different from us, we must stop treating one another as robots and more like living beings created in the image of God.

As we look forward in these turbulent times, may we rethink what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Following Jesus is not about results. Following Jesus is about trust in obedience in response to His love. Obedience is not measured in results but in hearing and doing what is told. What does it gain a man if he gains the world but loses his soul? What does it matter if I have all faith as I may move mountains, speak in the tongues of angels, and prophesy, knowing all mysteries and all knowledge if I have not love? And love, not as the world loves, but as our Savior showed in dying for us.

If we are not willing to die to our comfort, to die to our need to be recognized, to die to our need to be right; if we are not willing to die for our enemies, then we are not living up to our calling as followers of Jesus.

Want to share what you feel is holding you back or what you cannot seem to let go of? Is there a fear or concern or something else you feel is stopping you from fully embracing what God has called you to?

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